A year ago, when I was looking for an aftermarket cable for my Unique Melody Mentor, I met with Mr. Saktanber, who has been in this industry for almost 20 years. Besides being a cable maker, he is addicted to listening music and audiophile gear.

While we were to trying to decide on which cable would suit best to my Mentor, he offered me to make a custom tuned cable. Then, he produced IEM-2 for my Mentor, which was really stellar and created an impressive improvement. From this time, I started to believe that Mr. Saktanber is a true artist of making his own cables. He only makes pure silver cable by preparing his own raw material.

Mr. Saktanber has recently sent me IEM-3 and IEM-4 demos for a review. I would like to thank him for providing me these cables. I also have IEM-R1 unit in my hands, but we will experience this unique cable in the next review of SilverFi products.

Please note that their built quality and look may change in positive way, since they are review units. IEM4 has 6 pure silver conductors, while IEM3 has 4.

Sound:

I won’t divide this review in parts as I always do, since they all are special. I am going to give some definitions as well as some comparisons between IEM-3 and IEM-4.

Both cables have deeper, punchier and a lot better-textured sub-bass than Lear stock cable. Actually, apart from IEM-R1, they have the most resolved sub-bass that I have ever heard from a cable. They definitely add more authority to the sub-bass presentation by using slightly larger space of effect than Lear stock. In comparison, IEM-4 has a bit more emotional punches with slightly better sense of detail. Sub-bass quantity is very similar, but when we look in depth, we can consider that IEM-4 has more authority by a hair. If we have already too bass heavy earphone, IEM-3 should be a better option.

Both have a neutral placed mid-bass presentation with a very good resolution and both don’t tighten the stage at all. There is no mid-bass hump and they both have very good control over mid-bass notes. In comparison, IEM-4 has slightly more bodied mid-bass; this difference makes IEM-4 more full bodied overall. IEM-4 fits well earphones, which need some weight, while IEM-3 is better for those already have a full-bodied presentation. However, the weight difference between both cables is not very significant.

Both IEM-4 and IEM-3 are definitely more resolving, natural and much richer than stock cable. The difference is very clear and absolutely very satisfying. The main goal of SilverFi is to give clarity and correct tone without being harsh or piercing by keeping the original house sound: ‘’organic and smooth signature with the best possible clarity’’. Indeed, they increase the level of clarity and transparency in a very smooth way with a true and alive tone overall. In comparison, Lear stock cable sounds brighter and metallic; it is so far away from performing in organic perspective like IEM-3 and IEM-4. Both cables make the presentation fuller and note creation becomes better and thicker.

In comparison, IEM-3 has slightly more energetic but drier midrange, while IEM-4 has richer and clearer picture. Transparency and detail levels are very close, but IEM-4 sounds in a slightly more organic way. IEM-4 produces details very similar to Hifiman HE1000’s approach; very rich and detailed with a smooth signature.

In treble section, IEM-3's presentation is slightly more prominent, but both perform very similar in terms of resolution, extension and transparency. They have a definite superiority over Lear stock, which sounds brighter and piercing with an uncontrolled energy. They also have a very good amount of detail with smooth notes; in comparison, IEM-4 has slightly more organic approach, while IEM-3 has slightly drier.

In terms of stage width, both don’t offer a very good performance as good as their other technical abilities. In comparison, both have a wider stage than Lear stock, while IEM-4 is slightly wider than IEM-3. In fact, creating an overly wide stage reduces the reality of the presentation according to SilverFi. They primarily focus on tonality rather than stage dimensions. On the other hand, the depth is impressive on both, which increases the separation level with a better layering; also, both create a blacker background to make a more stable presentation. When compared to IEM-3, IEM-4 is slightly smoother in terms of releasing notes with a bit clearer recreation overall. In addition, both cable have slightly laid-back placed stage compared to Lear’s stock.

Final Words:

IEM-3 and IEM-4 cables from SilverFi are very impressive and they are better than Tralucent Uber Cable in terms of resolution, smoothness and true tone. From memory, Uber cable has a wider stage and slightly more dynamic presentation overall. However, it has stress in releasing notes and throwing details, while IEM-4 and IEM-3 is much more smoother; and they have more natural note releasing and organic tone.

IEM-4 and IEM-3 is not cheap, but if we consider that Uber cable is priced at more than 1000 USD, they become definitely a performance monster.. In the next review of SilverFi cables, I am going to explain the performance of IEM-R1, which is priced at 999 USD. As a quick preview, IEM-Reference 1 comes from another world in every single frequency range.. I can’t imagine how IEM-R2, R3 and R4 sounds..